The Lakewood Board of Education voted 9-0 this fall to spend about $245,000 restoring free courtesy busing for 307 public school students. Matzav reported the vote on October 8, 2026.
Yeshiva and private school families got no such vote. They pay $675 per child.
How the price moved
In August, the Lakewood Student Transportation Authority raised its fee for non-mandated busing from $385 to $945, saying a single seat can cost $1,177, Yeshiva World News reported. After an outcry it announced a cut to $290. By October, Matzav reported families paying $675. The outlets don't explain the gap, and we have not seen an official fee schedule.
The numbers
About 12,952 private school students in the district don't qualify for mandated busing. An estimated 98% of them have to cross at least one hazardous road to get to school, per Matzav.
The board asked for a $14.9 million hazardous-route plan to bus them. State fiscal monitor Louise Davis rejected it. Her written answer, per The Voice of Lakewood: "There is no available funding." The board passed a revised resolution and authorized borrowing the money. She put both under advisement. Davis is one of four fiscal monitors the state has appointed in the past year; she has also blocked the rehiring of board attorney Michael Inzelbuch three times, noting he was paid more than $800,000 in 2024-25, the Asbury Park Press reported.
The township used to pay about $1.4 million for public school courtesy busing and $2.75 million in subsidies for private school students. Board president Moshe Bender and Assemblyman Avi Schnall have spoken out. Parents are weighing a lawsuit.
Who decides
Lakewood's board is frum-majority. Its money is not its own. Because the district runs on state advance loans, a state-appointed monitor has the last word on spending, and the state is separately trying to take the district over entirely.
How we reported this: based on Matzav, Yeshiva World News, The Voice of Lakewood and the Asbury Park Press. Fee figures differ between outlets and we have not seen LSTA's schedule. We will ask the monitor's office for the status of the $14.9 million request. Lakewood parents: [email protected].